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Alex Spinov
Alex Spinov

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Video.js Was Rewritten to Be 8x Smaller — What This Means for Web Video in 2026

#discuss #webdev #javascript #opensource

A major milestone just landed on Hacker News: Video.js — the most popular open-source web video player — was completely rewritten after 16 years.

The headline number: 8x smaller. From ~500KB to ~60KB.

But the story behind it is more interesting than the tech.

The Story

The original creator took Video.js back after 16 years. That's not a typical open-source story — usually founders hand off projects and move on. This one came back.

Why? Because web video in 2026 is a very different landscape:

  • YouTube embeds are 1.3MB+ of JavaScript alone
  • Browser <video> tag is surprisingly capable now (HLS, DASH native support growing)
  • Most video players were designed for a world where browsers couldn't play formats natively

Video.js 9 strips everything back to what's actually needed.

Why This Matters for Developers

If you're embedding video in your web app, your current setup is probably bloated.

Here's what most projects ship:

video.js v8:     ~500KB min (before plugins)
plyr:            ~150KB min
videojs + HLS:   ~800KB min
YouTube embed:   ~1.3MB
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Video.js 9:

videojs v9:      ~60KB min
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The Trend: Less JavaScript, More Native

This is part of a larger trend I keep seeing in 2026:

  1. htmx replacing React for many use cases
  2. Native CSS replacing utility frameworks
  3. Browser APIs replacing JavaScript polyfills
  4. SQLite replacing PostgreSQL for smaller apps
  5. Video.js 9 dropping features the browser now handles natively

The common thread: we over-engineered the web, and now we're simplifying.

Discussion

I'm curious about your experience with web video:

  • What video player do you use? Video.js, Plyr, HLS.js, native <video>, or YouTube embeds?
  • Have you measured your video player's bundle size? Most people haven't.
  • Is the 'less JavaScript' trend real in your projects? Are you actually shipping less JS than 2 years ago?

The 8x size reduction is impressive, but I wonder if it matters when users are streaming 4K video — does an extra 440KB of JS even register next to gigabytes of video content?

What do you think — does bundle size still matter for video players?

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